Method and system for updating media lists in portable media devices

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for updating a media list or a media list collection of a portable media player device is disclosed herein. In various embodiments, the updates are generated by a proxy or a third party server, based at least in part on data gathered for media preferences for a user of the portable media play device and one or more other users of one or more portable media player devices. In various embodiments, the method is practiced respecting the access rights of the media files (if access rights are required). Other embodiments may also be described and claimed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority from and isrelated to commonly-owned U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/947,273filed Jun. 29, 2007. The disclosure of the foregoing application ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, including anyappendices or attachments thereof, for all purposes.

FIELD OF PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of portable media playerdevices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a methodand system for updating media lists in portable media devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Portable media player devices are increasing in popularity. A portablemedia player device is a transportable device that plays one or moremedia file types, including text, audio, video, interactive, and othermedia file types. For purposes of this disclosure, a portable mediaplayer device does not include a general purpose laptop or tabletcomputer, nor any computing device attached or installed on a mobilevehicle (such as a dash mounted radio or DVD player in an automobile,but rather includes a handheld device (also referred to as a palm-sizeddevice) for the purpose of displaying and/or playing media files. Thehardware and/or software components embodied in the device for thedisplaying and playing of media files are collectively referred to as amedia player. Examples of portable media player devices are the iPodavailable from Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif., the Zune availablefrom Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., the Ibiza™ Rhapsody® fromVaria Mobil of Seattle, Wash., and other like devices.

In addition to allowing users to store and play media files, manyportable media player devices allow users to organize media files intogroups or access groups of media files organized or stored for access bya service, a content provider, or another entity. Groups of media filesor their titles are sometimes referred to as “channels” or “playlists,”with playlists generally having a finite number of media file titles andchannels having a continuous number of media files. Files associatedwith a playlist or channel may be specified in a particular order or thefiles may be specified in a random order. Likewise, when accessed by auser, the files associated with a playlist may also be played in thespecified order or in a random order. A playlist may be static, i.e.,the playlist may always be associated with the same number of mediafiles, or it may be dynamic, i.e., the files associated with theplaylist may change. For example, a dynamic playlist may be associatedwith the twenty most popular songs, and the songs associated with theplaylist may change as the most popular songs change.

Despite the continued availability of new and interesting media files,however, most users infrequently modify or update a playlist once theplaylist has been created. One reason for this may be that many portablemedia player devices can only be modified by a user on a computer andcannot be modified directly on a portable media player device (in partbecause of the constrained input capability due to the inherent sizeconstraints of portable devices). Other portable media player devicesallow sharing of playlists and media between portable media devices, butonly if the portable media player devices are in an immediate proximityto the user. The shared media also typically has limited play timeunless the right to play is subsequently confirmed/validated (an attemptto address the digital right issues that arise with the sharing ofmedia). These factors significantly limit the number and variety ofplaylists available for sharing with a user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way oflimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of the present invention, in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a portable media player device in accordance with anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a proxy server apparatus, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF TECHNOLOGY

In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of theinvention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form apart hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplaryembodiments by which the invention may be practiced. Each embodiment isdescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, and it is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined onlyby the appended claims.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations. Inturn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the presentinvention, however, the order of description should not be construed asto imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Inparticular, these operations need not be performed in the order ofpresentation.

Furthermore, reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, theappearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” invarious places throughout this specification are not necessarily allreferring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments.

A method and system for updating of media lists in portable media playerdevices via a proxy server is described. For purposes of thisdescription, groups of media files organized together, whether finite orcontinuous, will be collectively referred to as “media lists”, or “mediaplaylist.” In various embodiments, updates to a media list or a “new”media list for a portable media player device are generated based uponmedia preferences gathered for a plurality of users, while respectingthe digital rights of the media files. Thus, in these embodiments,suggested media titles of songs, videos, photos, podcasts or otherpreferred media may be used to update a user's playlist or may be addedto the user's playlist collection as an additional playlist, based uponplaylist or playlists of one or more users, or one or more communityplaylists, with similar media preferences, with the digital rights ofthe video, photos, podcasts etc. where applicable being fully respected.In various embodiments, for each media title added to an updated medialist or added via a “new” media list, the proxy server furtherdetermines whether access to a media file requires having requisiteaccess rights, if so, whether the user has access rights to thecorresponding media files. If no access rights are required or accessrights apply and exist, then the corresponding media files or accesslinks to the corresponding media files may be transmitted by the proxyserver to the portable media device of the user. If access rights applybut the first user does not have access rights to the correspondingmedia files, then the proxy server may update the user's media list orthe new media list with the titles, but not provide the portable mediaplayer device with the actual media files nor the access links. Invarious embodiments, the proxy server may further provide information asto how to acquire the necessary rights to access the added media files,e.g. by subscription to a third party service or by purchasing theperformance rights for the titles. In various embodiments, theinformation may include access links to the third party service or athird party site where performance rights for the titles may bepurchased and/or otherwise acquired.

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of the present invention 100 inaccordance with various embodiments. A remote media service 37 includesa proxy server 35 that may transmit information such as updates to amedia list or a media list to be added to a media list collection toeach of User A and User B of respective portable media player devices 10and 60 via network 50 and respective wireless access points 40 and 70,while respecting the access rights of the media files being added to themedia lists or media list collection of User A and User B when accessrights apply. Network 50 may include for example a Wide Area Network(WAN), Local Area Network (LAN) (e.g. Ethernet), an intranet, internet,a public switched telephone network (PSTN) as well as a wirelesscommunications network (e.g. WiFi), or combination thereof. In variousembodiments, remote media service 37 includes for example a softwareand/or hardware facility for providing media list updates, media filesand/or information about media files to users and for facilitatinguser-to-user sharing of media lists. As shown, each of portable mediaplayer devices 10 and 60 may have a number of media files or accesslinks to media files stored thereon. The media files may have/require ornot require access rights. Portable media player devices 10 and 60 maybe associated with respective computers 20 and 80 connected to network50. Each of User A and User B may define or create one or more mediaplaylists or media lists, organizing all or subsets of the media files,in the respective portable media player devices 10 and 60, in associatedcomputers 20 and 80, and/or with remote media service 37 via proxyserver 35. As will be explained in more details below, proxy server 35may transmit updates to the media lists or add to the media listcollections of Users A and B on the portable media player devices 10 and60 as well as computers 20 and 80, based on similarity between the mediapreference of Users A and B and/or media preference of Users A and Bwith other users (not shown), as inferred from the media lists and/ormedia files stored in or accessible to portable media player devices 10and 60 (and other users' portable media player devices (not shown)),while respecting the access rights of the media files when access rightsapply. It should be noted that for ease of understanding, only users Aand B are shown in FIG. 1, however, embodiments of the invention are notlimited to just two users, but may be practiced for a community ofusers, whose size is subject only to the computing resources of theproxy and third party servers, and the networking/telecommunicationbandwidths.

Alternatively or additionally to a user creating his or her own medialist, the remote media service 37 may create and push a media list for auser. The media list may be based on the user's implicit interests. Forexample, a media list may be created or updated based on the media filesaccessed most frequently by the user, the media files ranked highest bythe user, the media files most recently played by the user, and/or otherparameters. The remote media service 37 may also create a media listbased on information that the user has explicitly communicated to theremote media service 37, such as personal information and interestsconveyed when a user signs up for a service offered by the remote mediaservice or in a user profile. For example, the user may request that amedia list is created that is limited to a particular type of mediafile, genre, artist, category, or other parameter. Note that a medialist may include a single media file type or multiple media file types.For example, one media list may be devoted to favorite songs, whileanother is devoted to favorite photos. In the alternative, a singlemedia list may include different types of media files, such as slideshows that include songs, photos and video.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that depicts a method 200 of updating or sharinga media list via proxy server 35 in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. In the embodiment shown, a media list on a portable mediaplayer device associated with User A may be updated or added based upona media list on a portable media player device associated with one ormore other users, which may or may not be associated with proxy server35, e.g. User B and/or other users not shown. In the embodiment, ratherthan being limited to an update from a user whose portable media playerdevice must be in the proximity of User A's media portable media playerdevice, User A can have his media list on his portable media playerdevice updated or have a media list added in accordance with a medialist on User B's portable media player device, even if User B's mediaportable media player device is remotely disposed from User A's portablemedia player device, and only communicatively coupled to each otherand/or to the server via a network. In other embodiments, User A canhave his media list on his portable media player device updated or havea media list added in accordance with a media list created by proxyserver 35 or by a third party server/service accessible to proxy server35. In various embodiments, User A may select User B from any number ofusers of portable media player devices associated with service 37/server35, or a community associated with service 37/server 35 or a third partyservice. The updates and/or additions are made based at least in part onsimilarity between the media preferences of the users/communities and/ormedia preferences intrinsic of a media list.

In the embodiment shown, after start block 202, proxy server 35retrieves one or more prior media lists of a first portable media playerdevice associated with User A, or information about media stored onand/or accessed using the first portable media player device at block203. In various embodiments, this prior media list and/or mediastorage/accessed information can be retrieved from storage in the proxyserver 35, additional storage in the remote media service 37 or from thefirst portable media player device associated with User A. As describedabove, this prior media list may have been previously created or definedby user A or by remote media service 37 and/or may have been updatedpreviously by the method as described in the embodiment illustratedherein.

After retrieving the prior media list and/or media stored/accessed atblock 203, an updated or a new media list may be generated and/orretrieved by proxy server 35 at a next block 205. In variousembodiments, this may include determining one or more similaritiesbetween media preferences of User A and one or more other users, e.g.User B, and/or a community associated with the proxy or a third partyservice. The determining may be based on any one of a number ofquantitative analysis techniques, including but not limited to Bayesiananalysis, and so forth on data, such as media lists of the portablemedia player devices and/or media files stored and/or accessed by theportable media player device. In various embodiments, the determiningmay also include gathering of the relevant data related to the mediapreferences of User A and one or more other users, e.g. User B, and/orone or more communities associated with proxy and/or third partyservice. In various embodiments, the gathering of data may be in realtime or on an on-going basis prior to the determining of the preferencesand comparing the preferences for similarities. One or more variousattributes can be compared such as for example a preferred music genreor preferred podcast genre. Thus, for example if User A and the one ormore other users, such as User B, and/or one or more communitiesfrequently access podcasts related to technology and one of the otherusers, e.g. User B and/or proxy/third party server has a media titlethat would appear relevant to User A, the technology podcast title onUser's B's media list or a media list of the proxy/third party servicemay be suggested to User A in the form of an update to a media list ofUser A to add the media title to User A's prior media list or part of amedia list to be added to User A's media list collection. In variousembodiments, a media list to be added or an update to User A's medialists can also be based upon the media lists of not only User B's medialist but as alluded to earlier, on a plurality of users (not shown inFIG. 1) with similar media preferences or can be based upon media titlesdeemed to be of interest to User A by proxy server 35. In variousembodiments, User A may also specifically request an update from aparticular user or request that proxy server 35 update User A's listbased upon specific parameters or particular media lists that may beavailable to all subscribers (e.g. the most popular media lists, top 20songs, etc.). Accordingly, the updates or new media lists may begenerated based upon a media list explicitly selected from a pluralityof media lists by User A. In various embodiments, the User A may be asubscriber to the selected media list, e.g. such as for example a TopTracks media list created or assembled by the proxy server or the remotemedia service.

After the updates or the new media list has been generated and/orretrieved at block 205, the proxy server may determine at a next block207 for the media title or titles being added to the updated media listor added via a new media list, whether proper access rights are requiredfor playing the media title/titles, and if required, whether User A orthe portable media player device associated with User A has therequisite access rights to the corresponding media content, alsosometimes referred to as “corresponding media” or simply “mediacontent.” In various embodiments, the proxy server 35 will search forthe corresponding media content for each of the media titles in a medialibrary of the remote media service 37 using an identifier includedamong metadata associated with the media title (e.g. a song, a video, apodcast or other media type) to determine whether a media title requiresaccess rights, and if so, whether User A has the requisite accessrights. If the media content is not found in the media library, theproxy server 35 may also search third party service providers andoutside sources for availability and whether access rights are requiredand if access rights are required, whether User A has the requisiteaccess rights.

In various embodiments, if the media content is found in the medialibrary of the remote media service 37, proxy server 35 may check to seeif User A is a subscriber to a service that will allow access to themedia content. If, however, the media content is not found in the medialibrary, the proxy server 35 may check with a third party serviceprovider as to whether User A is a subscriber and whether the servicesubscribed includes rights to access the media content.

If User A is a subscriber to a service that includes access rights tothe media content, whether third party or directly through the remotemedia service 37, then it is determined that User A has access to themedia content. The process then moves to a right block 210. At block210, access to the media content is integrated into the updated or newlist. In various embodiments, access to the media content can includethe actual media content from a third party service provider. In variousembodiments, this access may include in the updated or new media list aretrieval link for the media content so that the media content can bestreamed or downloaded when so desired by User A.

In the alternative, however, if at decision block 207, the proxy serverinstead determined that User A does not have access rights to thecorresponding media content (and access right is required). then theprocess flows to a left block 211. In block 211, the corresponding mediacontent is not integrated into the updated or new list but informationsuch as title, artist, duration, genre and other information may beintegrated. In various embodiments, the information may be integratedalong with an offer or other information related to how User A may gainaccess to the media content. In these embodiments, the information mayinclude subscription information for subscribing to the remote mediaservice 37 or other third party service provider.

Once information about the corresponding media content or access to thecorresponding media content has been integrated into the updated list atrespective block 210 or block 211, the process flows to a block 213. Ata block 213, the proxy server determines whether there is an additionalmedia title on the updated list for which access should be determined.If the answer is yes, the process returns to block 207. The processcycles through blocks 207-213 until it has been determined for eachmedia title added to the updated list whether access to thecorresponding media exists.

When each media title has been checked, the process flows to a block 215where the updates or new media list with either corresponding mediacontent or information related to the corresponding media content foreach added title is transmitted to User A. The process then ends atblock 217. In various embodiments, the process may be repeated so thatUser A's media list is updated each time changes or updates are made touser B or a community's media list. In various embodiments, User A maychoose to have automatic updates or have updates only upon request.Further note that in various embodiments, the method of presentation ofthe additional media titles may vary. For example, the information oraccess to the added media titles may be transmitted separately from theupdated list. Note also that in determining whether a user has access toa corresponding media content essentially includes determining whetheraccess to the corresponding media content complies with digital mediarights management (DRM) rules.

In various embodiments, for media titles being added to the mediaplaylist with no access right controls, the proxy server may in additionto adding the media title to the updated or new media playlist, providesthe portable media player device with the media content or an accesslink to media content.

Next, FIG. 3 illustrates an internal component view of an examplehandheld portable media device player 300 in an embodiment of theinvention. In the embodiment shown, a handheld portable media playerdevice 300 includes a processor 308 coupled to user interfaces 302,memory 304 and transmitter/receiver (TX/RX) 306 (“transceiver”). Thestorage medium 304 includes instructions implementing a media player305. In alternate embodiments, all or portions of the media player maybe implemented in hardware, e.g. hardware components dedicated toencoding/decoding, compression/decompression, encryption/decryption,digital rights management, signal filtering or other processing. Thetransceiver 306 may be a radiofrequency (RF) transceiver that in variousembodiments may support WiFi, WiMax or other wireless local area networkaccess. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver may support EDGE(Enhanced Data GSM Environment) or G3 communication protocols

Accordingly, the transceiver 306 may receive an updated media list fromproxy server 35 to provide the updated media list to the processor 308.The updated media list may comprise additional media titles added to aprior local media list that may be stored in the memory 304. In oneembodiment, the user interfaces 302 may include a display, touch pad,touch screen and other input/output (I/O) devices or the like (notshown). In various embodiments, the RF transceiver may support WiMax orother wireless local area network access. In other embodiment, the RFtransceiver may support EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) or G3communication protocols.

In various embodiments, the processor 308 may be configured to receivefrom the transceiver 306 at least one of a media corresponding to amedia title added to the updated media list where access to the media bythe first user complies with DRM rules associated with the media orsimply information about a media title added to the updated media listwhere access to the media by the first user does not comply with DRMrules associated with the media by the first user. In variousembodiments, the received media or the information about a media, ifprovided, is provided or caused to be provided by the proxy server 35,in conjunction with the provision of the updated or new media list bythe proxy server 35. In the embodiment, a display included in the userinterfaces 302 may be adapted to display the updated media list.

Finally, FIG. 4 illustrates an internal view of an example computingdevice 400, suitable for use as proxy server 35, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, system memory404 may have stored thereon instructions which cause one or moreprocessors 402 to generate or retrieve updates or a new media list for afirst portable media player device, based at least in part on one ormore similarities between media preferences for a first user of a firstportable media player device and a second one or more users of a secondone or more portable media player devices. The instructions may also beconfigured to determine the one or more similarities, as well as todetermine the media preferences, and/or to gather the data required todetermine the media preferences. In various embodiments, gathered data,media preferences 414, and playlists may be stored in mass storagedevice 410, which may be of a variety of types, including but notlimited to optical, magnetic and solid state types. In variousembodiments, media preferences 414 may have been determined by computingdevice 400 based upon media accessed by the first and second one or moreusers or media preferences 414 may have been received by computingdevice 400 from another suitable source.

The instructions stored in system memory 404 may further includedetermining for each media title added to the updated media list whetheraccess right is required to play the media title, and if so, whether thefirst user or the first portable media player device is a subscriber toa media service that has access to the media title added to the updatedmedia list. In various embodiments, a media corresponding to a mediatitle added to the updated or new media list where the first user or thefirst portable media player device is a subscriber to the media service,or an offer to acquire the media from the media service or a third partyservice where the first user or the first portable media player deviceis not a subscriber to the media service may be transmitted or caused tobe transmitted, via the network interface 410.

In various embodiments, network interfaces 410 may include networkinterface cards, modems and so forth. In various embodiments, networkinterfaces 410 may be configured to support a wire lined base local areanetworking protocol, e.g. Ethernet. In the embodiments shown, theapparatus 400 may also include general purpose input/output (I/O)devices 408. The one or more processors 402, system memory 404, massstorage device 410, I/O devices 408 and network interfaces 410 arecoupled to each other via system bus 412, which represents one or morebuses. In the case of multiple buses, they are bridged by one or morebus bridges (not shown). In alternate embodiments, other elements may beadded, as well as having one or more of the illustrated elementsomitted, without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Thus, it can be seen from the above description, methods and apparatusesfor updating or adding media lists in portable media player devices viaproxy server is described. Thus, in an embodiment, media titles andmedia content of songs, videos, photos, podcasts, audiobooks or otherpreferred media may be used to update a first user's playlist or hisplaylist collection based upon a media list of a second one or moreusers with similar media preferences or based upon a media list compiledat or by a remote media service 37 (or a third party service), whileautomatically respecting the access rights of the media titles beingadded. If access right is required for a media title, and a user hasaccess rights to the corresponding media, then the media or an accesslink to the media is transmitted by the proxy server to the portablemedia device of the first user (along with the updates and/or new medialist). If the user does not have a subscription or other access to thecorresponding media, then the proxy server may transmit the updated ornew list to the first user with information as to how to access themedia whether by subscription or other third party service.

As mentioned earlier, while the present invention has been described interms of the above-illustrated embodiments, the present invention is notlimited to the embodiments described. The present invention can bepracticed with modification and alternation within the spirit and scopeof the appended claims. Thus, the description is to be regarded asillustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: generating, by a proxyserver, updates to an already existing first media playlist of a firstportable media player device, the generating comprising: comparing, bythe proxy server, media preferences of a first user of the firstportable media player device with media preferences of at least a seconduser of a second portable media player device to identify similaritiesbetween the media preferences of the first user and the mediapreferences of the second user; and selecting, by the proxy serveraccessing on the second portable media player device a second mediaplaylist associated with the second user and maintained on the secondportable media player device, one or more respective media titles fromthe second media playlist as the updates to the already existing firstmedia playlist, wherein the one or more respective media titles areselected based on the comparison of the media preferences of the firstuser with the media preferences of the at least a second user, includingthe similarities identified, wherein the already existing first mediaplaylist comprises a user-defined listing of media titles organizing agrouping of corresponding pieces of media content, wherein the updatesto the already existing first media playlist comprise suggested mediatitles to be integrated into the already existing first media playlist,and wherein the already existing first media playlist is one of aplurality of user-defined media playlists of the first portable mediaplayer device; determining for the one or more respective media titlesof the updates, by the proxy server, whether the first user of the firstportable media player device or the first portable media player devicehas access rights to one or more corresponding pieces of media contentfor the respective media titles of the updates; transmitting the updatesto the first portable media player device, by the proxy server; andtransmitting or causing to be transmitted, by the proxy server: one ormore first pieces of media content, corresponding to titles added to theupdates to the already existing first media playlist, if the first useror the first portable media player device was determined to have accessrights to the one or more first pieces of media content; or informationabout one or more media titles added to the updates to the alreadyexisting first media playlist corresponding to one or more second piecesof media content, if the first user or the first portable media playerdevice was determined not to have access rights, wherein the informationincludes subscription information for subscribing to a media service inorder to obtain access rights to the one or more second pieces of mediacontent.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the updated media playlist isgenerated based at least in part on data gathered relating to the mediapreferences of the first user of the first portable media player deviceand the at least a second user of the second portable media playerdevice.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the media preferences of thefirst user comprise preferences related to one or more of music, videos,photos, audiobooks or podcasts.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein thedetermining comprises checking whether the first user or the firstportable media player device has access rights to the correspondingpieces of media content with a third party service provider.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein the checking comprises checking with the thirdparty service provider whether the first user is a service subscriber ofthe third party service provider and if the first user is a servicesubscriber whether the service subscribed to include rights to accessthe corresponding pieces of media content.
 6. The method of claim 5wherein the checking comprises checking with the third party serviceprovider whether the corresponding pieces of media content are availablefrom the third party service provider.
 7. The method of claim 1 whereinthe transmitting of the updates to the first media playlist comprisestransmitting updates to a media playlist disposed on the first portablemedia player device.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmittingor causing to be transmitted comprises causing a third party serviceprovider to transmit the one or more first pieces of media content tothe first user or to the first portable media player device with accessrights to the one or more first pieces of media content.
 9. The methodof claim 1 wherein the transmitting or causing to be transmittedcomprises transmitting a retrieval link for a third piece of mediacontent to the first user or to the first portable media player devicewith access rights to the third piece of media content.
 10. The methodof claim 1 wherein the transmitting or causing to be transmittedcomprises transmitting an offer to acquire the one or more second piecesof media content for which the first user or first portable media playerdevice does not have access rights.
 11. A method comprising: receivingby a first portable media player device, from a proxy server, updates toan already existing first media playlist of the first portable mediaplayer device, the updates comprising additional media titles to beintegrated into the already existing first media playlist by the firstportable media player device, the additional media titles included in amedia playlist stored at a remote media service, wherein the updates tothe already existing first media playlist are generated by the proxyserver: comparing media preferences of a first user of the firstportable media player device with media preferences of a second user ofa second portable media player device to identify similarities betweenthe media preferences of the first user and the media preferences of thesecond user, and selecting, by accessing on the second portable mediaplayer device a second media playlist associated with the second userand maintained on the second portable media player device, theadditional media titles from the second media playlist as the updates tothe already existing first media playlist, wherein the additional mediatitles are selected based on the comparison of the media preferences ofthe first user with the media preferences of the second user, includingthe similarities identified, wherein the already existing first mediaplaylist comprises a user-defined listing of media titles organizing agrouping of corresponding pieces of media content, and wherein thealready existing first media playlist is one of a plurality ofuser-defined media playlists of the first portable media player device;receiving a first piece of media content corresponding to a first mediatitle of the updates for which the first user or the first portablemedia player device is determined to have access rights to the firstpiece of media content; and receiving information about a second mediatitle added to the updates to the already existing first media playlistwhere the first user or the first portable media player device isdetermined not to have access rights to a second piece of media contentcorresponding to the second media title, wherein the informationincludes subscription information for subscribing to a third partyservice provider in order to obtain access rights to the second piece ofmedia content, and wherein the first piece of media content or theinformation about the second media title is provided or caused to beprovided by the proxy server in conjunction with the provision of theupdates to the first media playlist by the proxy server.
 12. The methodof claim 11 wherein the updates to the first media playlist aregenerated based at least in part upon a media playlist stored at theremote media service and selected from a plurality of media playlists,by the first user.
 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the additionalmedia titles are added to the prior local media playlist based at leastin part on data gathered relating to the media preferences of the firstuser and the second user.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein thereceiving of the first piece of media content corresponding to the firstmedia title being added to the first media playlist comprises receivingthe first piece of media content after a check with the third partyservice provider has determined that the first user is a servicesubscriber of the third party service provider and the servicesubscribed includes rights to access the first piece of media content.15. The method of claim 11 wherein the receiving of the first piece ofmedia content corresponding to the first media title comprises receivingthe first piece of media content from the third party service provider.16. The method of claim 11 wherein the receiving of information aboutthe second media title includes receiving an offer to acquire the secondpiece of media content, to which the portable media player device doesnot have access rights.
 17. A proxy server apparatus, comprising: anetwork interface; a processor coupled to the network interface; and amemory coupled to the network interface and the processor, the memoryhaving stored thereon instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the apparatus to: generate updates to an alreadyexisting first media playlist of a first portable media player device,based at least in part on: comparing data relating to media preferencesof a first user of the first portable media player device with datarelating to media preferences of at least a second user of a secondportable media device to identify similarities between the mediapreferences of the first user and the media preferences of the seconduser, and selecting, by accessing on the second portable media playerdevice a second media playlist associated with the second user andmaintained on the second portable media player device, one or more mediatitles from the second media playlist as the updates to the alreadyexisting first media playlist, wherein the one or more media titles areselected based on the comparison of the data relating to mediapreferences of the first user with the data relating to mediapreferences of the at least a second user, including the similaritiesidentified, wherein the already existing first media playlist comprisesa user-defined listing of media titles organizing a grouping ofcorresponding pieces of media content, wherein the updates to thealready existing first media playlist comprise suggested media titles tobe integrated into the already existing first media playlist, andwherein the already existing first media playlist is one of a pluralityof user-defined media playlists of the first portable media playerdevice; determine for each media title being added to the first mediaplaylist whether the first user or the first portable media playerdevice is a subscriber to a media service that has access to the mediatitle being added to the first media playlist; and transmit, or cause tobe transmitted, via the network interface: a first piece of mediacontent corresponding to a first media title being integrated into thealready existing first media playlist for which the first user or thefirst portable media player device was determined to be a subscriber toa media service that has access to the first media title; and an offerto acquire a second piece of media content corresponding to a secondmedia title from a media service that has access to the second mediatitle, wherein the first user or the first portable media player deviceis determined not to be a subscriber to the media service that hasaccess to the second media title, and wherein the information includessubscription information for subscribing to the media service that hasaccess to the second media title in order to obtain access rights to thesecond piece of media content.
 18. The proxy server apparatus of claim17 wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatusto transmit or cause to be transmitted the updates to the first mediaplaylist including transmitting updates to a prior media playlistdisposed on the portable media player device.
 19. The proxy serverapparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed, furthercause the apparatus to gather the data relating to the media preferencesof the first user and the at least a second user.
 20. The proxy serverapparatus of claim 17, wherein the transmit or cause to be transmittedcomprises transmitting a retrieval link for a piece of media content tothe first user of the first portable media player device with asubscription to the media service.
 21. A handheld portable media playerdevice, comprising: a user interface; storage to store media and mediaplaylists; a media player; a transceiver; a processor coupled to theuser interface, the storage, the media player, and the transceiver, andconfigured to control the storage, the media player, and the transceiverto collectively receive updates to an already existing first mediaplaylist, from a proxy server, the updates to the already existing firstmedia playlist comprising additional media titles to be integrated intothe already existing first media playlist stored in the storage, whereinthe additional media titles are added by the proxy server: comparingdata relating to media preferences of a user of the portable mediaplayer device with data relating to media preferences of one or moreother users of one or more other portable media player devices toidentify similarities between the media preferences of the user and theone or more other users, and selecting, by accessing on the one or moreother portable media player devices one or more second media playlistsassociated with one or more other users and maintained on one or moreother portable media player devices, the additional media titles fromthe one or more second media playlists as the updates to be added to thealready existing first media playlist, wherein the additional mediatitles are selected based on the comparison of the data relating tomedia preferences of the user with the data relating to mediapreferences of the one or more other users, including the similaritiesidentified, wherein the already existing first media playlist comprisesa user-defined listing of media titles organizing a grouping ofcorresponding pieces of media content, and wherein the already existingfirst media playlist is one of a plurality of user-defined mediaplaylists of the first portable media player device, wherein theprocessor is further configured to control the storage, the media playerand transceiver to receive: a first piece of media content correspondingto a first media title added to the updates to the already existingfirst media playlist for which access to the first piece of mediacontent by the user is determined to comply with digital rightsmanagement (DRM) rules associated with the first media title; andinformation about a second media title added to the updates to thealready existing first media playlist, wherein access to a second pieceof media content corresponding to the second media title by the user isdetermined not to comply with DRM rules associated with the second mediatitle, wherein the information includes subscription information forsubscribing to a media service in order to obtain access rights to thesecond piece of media content; wherein the first piece of media contentor the information about the second media title is provided or caused tobe provided by the proxy servers in conjunction with the provision ofthe updates to the first media.
 22. The handheld portable media deviceof claim 21 wherein the processor is further configured to control theuser interface to present the updated media playlist with a retrievallink for a piece of media content to the user, the retrieval link beingprovided by the proxy server if the user or the portable media playerdevice access of the media complies with digital rights management rulesassociated with the piece of media content.
 23. The handheld portablemedia device of claim 21 wherein the processor is further configured tocontrol the storage, the media player, and the transceiver tocollectively receive a piece of media content corresponding to a mediatitle added to the first media playlist from a third party serviceprovider.
 24. The handheld portable media device of claim 21 wherein thecomparing data related to media preferences comprises comparing apreferred music genre of the first user to a preferred music genre ofthe one or more other users of the one or more other portable mediaplayer devices.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mediaplaylist comprises media titles of both at least one audio media fileand at least one of a photo media file and a video media file, andwherein the updates to the first media playlist comprise a media titleof an audio media file and a media title of one of a media file and avideo media file.